BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys High School

Inside lacrosse rankings are a joke. What are Ty Xanders lacrosse qualifications again?

The defensemen went to Syracuse & Maryland. Are those coaching staffs jokes as well?

Petro was canned at Hopkins because he had a lousy picker. And UMD has had a couple highly-touted MIAA hs defensemen flop.

We'll see if those college coaches have gotten better at evaluating h/s talent.

At this point, I give IL and those college coaches credit. So it's probably fair to ask, "what is the problem on Chestnut Ave?"

St Mary’s is very good. I wouldn’t read much into that loss.

The forum and the powers that be have an agenda…….

Agenda is to educate the masses. LB is on the way down in lacrosse. Coach will be gone soon and talent is on way to cellar. No getting around it.

2026 class is loaded so you point no where near accurate.

Loyola will not go to the extreme of BL, CHC or MCD who are now recruiting out or state boarders and/or 1 year hired lax guns to win an MIAA championship in lacrosse.

Pump your brakes. BL and McD are loaded. Loyola has a descent 2026 class but it's mainly on the defensive side.

Agree 100% - they were the strongest 8th grade squad in town last year. Lots of talent.

LB is not in anyone’s top 6 for the foreseeable future.

Disagree on LB being the best.

LB lost to StP and were 1/1 against Gilman. StP lost to BL and Gilman. BL beat SP and lost twice to LB.

Pretty evenly matched teams and a great group of 2026 boys at all these schools.

Who cares about 8th grade teams when MIAA lacrosse is now about 1 year transfers and out of state boarders?

big drop off this year after CH, McD & BL.

Loyola isn't even in the conversation

Because they have a solid nucleus of local talent, they don't need to rely on out of state transfers to fill their rosters. BL has a solid 9th grade already in the school, but they need to supplement. McD didn't even have enough players to field an 8th grade squad last year, so obv. they need to look elsewhere. Not sure why CHC needs to bring in outside talent due to the sheer number of players in their program, but I guess the coach isn't satisfied with the talent of the kids in his program and needs to recruit over them.

And BL split with Gilman. I saw all of them play and thought the talent level and depth and Loyola was superior, and I'm a BL parent.

If you think that is what the MIAA is now all about, I think you are missing the storyline.

So you saw StP beat LB then? Explain that loss.

Solid nucleus of JV talent. Maybe 2/3 of the kids on that team contribute to the varsity at some point. Your son isn't one of them.

Don't worry about McD's/BL's 8th grade team. Worry about the freshman class they recruited. CHC needs outside talent because they don't have any local talent.

LBs 8th graders were good. But that league is really weak.
A couple other schools picked up way better players who didn't do private MS.

No I didn't see that game. I said "I saw all of them play" not "I saw every game" - reading is fundamental

Right you are keyboard commando - my son doesn't go to Loyola

CHC recruits so many so that they don’t play elsewhere. They’ll sit on the bench at CHC instead of playing at other schools. He does exactly what the Maryland womens coach does, stack the roster so other schools don’t get the players.

Probably accurate. My son is a 7th grader for a mid-range Elite program. He's a solid player, not starter, but first off the bench and he contributes pretty significantly. He's likely headed to BL. But it's for the ESS program, not lacrosse.

It seems like a couple top MIAA programs will take anyone, whether they expect them to play or not. My feeling is there is considerable pressure to use lacrosse to bolster enrollment numbers at these schools. But it does seem like some programs really are trying to keep kids from going to the competition.

Anecdotally, I'm seeing a lot of his teammates (depending on where they live) looking hard at Spalding (south), JC (north) and StP (Balt Co.). StP especially. So it will be interesting to see how the next few years in the conference shakes out. I expect the Crusaders to be much improved.

I can't say enough good things about Boy's Latin and their ESS program, and I was very, very reluctant to even consider Boy's Latin.

Catonsville was the only team to go 1-0 against MIAA-A last year.

How did Loyola and Calvert Hall play football against to the bottom feeders this weekend?

What is the lifetime record of these "top" public teams against A level competition?
Each of these schools might have 1 or 2 wins EVER against A schools.

Catonsville's team was a flash in the pan this year. And it wasn't real lacrosse. Good goalie, and pack it in and stall the rest.
Westminster at it's PEAK could barely beat MSJ. And they are now on the downslide.
Howard has never beaten an A league team. And probably never will. They are mediocre even by public school standards.
Hereford won one game against Gilman or St Paul's?

LSG Fall league looks like Spalding has dropped way off. Put them in the bottom of the league again.

I have been saying for years that CHC, LB, BL & StP recruit far more players than will ever see the field. This is done so that they do not attend other schools to be developed into starting players. Not all would make it to the starting role, but for those that do they would have a far better high school sports experience. If you are going to a school for legacy, scholarship or special program etc.. than by all means go to the listed schools. Otherwise if the commute make sense definitely look elsewhere. This is a timely conversation as 8th graders are starting to apply to schools now with decision time looming in February. Parents & players should ask coach's at those 4 schools roughly how many players were on their roster over the last 2 years and approx. how many players on the roster saw the field for any amount of time during an MIAA game. This is just a question. We know they play to win. We know this is not ever going to be about getting all 50 + players in the game. We know not everybody gets a trophy. We know we have to hit the wall more...

Life is great in 21228!

Another "unfair" football loss for the Dons. Last week it was the 30-36 OT loss to St Mary's.

This week it was 0-40 against MSJ.

Almost time to take their ball and go home...again.

English please

Just in time for fall, it's John Carroll dad! The idea that Loyola or Gilman each keep 60+ varsity players just to keep those players away from BL or Calvert Hall (or John Carroll or the public schools) is ridiculous. The fact is that they have adequate coaching and resources to keep huge rosters, and (Loyola's current coaching excluded) the schools generate solid talent that tends to be able to play in college "at some level."

I actually 1000% agree with you that each of the boys, by 8th grade at the latest, should honestly and deeply think about "how important is it for me to play the maximum minutes for my talent level?" If the answer is "It's more important than even academics or academic pipelines" then absolutely they should be looking at a Curley, MSJ, John Carroll etc program (or public school) unless they are on the "national radar" for talent (players should ask a coach....parents are the source of a lot of false pride on whether Little Brayden is elite...and just because a college program follows him on social media, does not mean he's "being recruited" lol).

But if you actually talk to middle school athletes (AAA, above average, ATG, whatever, up to elite), you'll get a surprising range of answers on this question. For some, lax is the 3rd or 4th priority at all. For others, the brotherhood and status of that shiny Calvert Hall helmet is the prize. Still others want to be on the team with their friends, wherever their friends end up. As a parent, stop assuming you/we know the answer to this.

It's interesting that your complaints about kids "commuting to big schools" has evolved into this important point. You're not wrong.

CH might have the resources. But the results aren't great.
They lose one player in each of the past 2 years and their season tanks.
No bench development.
It's why they are bringing in one year rentals.

That's a good point, however in last year's case, wasn't the issue that the starter was aged out for MIAA play, #2 guy had his widely publicized health issue, and #3 guy was a freshman who took a few games to get settled in. That's more than losing one player, but your point stands. They knew the starter was going to be 20, why did they not have multiple other guys ready to go by Feb at the latest. Especially at this key position (trying to be vague to not smear any of the kids involved).

Yeah since CHC and Loyola isn't that good at football this year maybe they should be forced to go down to the B bracket with Gilman.... Boy Latin and St Pauls already know their limitations with other sports because really lacrosse is their only A bracket sport......... CHC also [Censored] real bad in basketball the past several years..... Lets move them to B .....Love that argument about moving now MIAA schools out of the MIAA A bracket in lacrosse....

There’s some long posts being written. I wish I had as much downtime as you people do during the day to write all my thoughts out on an anonymous forum. I barely have enough time to come in here just to get a laugh going to put me back in a good mood. Carry on.

My sons attend large MIAA schools and I agree that it's insane that a school has a $30M endowment and yet "I'm sorry sir we can't field an A level football team." Yes you can, you're just not successful at recruiting and growing winning teams.

That Loyola loss to MSJ. WOW. detest to be that head coach, brand new AD up in Knott Hall............1st 4 games include a 3OT loss to Georgetown Prep, OT loss to St. Marys and an absolute whooping by MSJ.

A team can move up or down every 2 years. In any sport. Regardless of the outcomes for the next few years, all the teams in the A are committed to be there for the foreseeable future. The only team considering a move to the B anytime soon is Gilman.